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BACK INJURY AND DEPRESSION — A MEDICOLEGAL PROBLEM
Author(s) -
Stevenson H. G.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1970.tb84592.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , depression (economics) , compensation (psychology) , psychiatry , neurosis , population , psychology , personal injury , medicine , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , social psychology , law , environmental health , political science , economics , macroeconomics
A possible cause for the persistence of symptoms following an injury to the back is put forward, together with a suggestion relating the psychiatric symptoms frequently seen in these cases to the initial injury. A depressive reaction as a primary result of the injury to the cervical spine is postulated, rather than as a result of failure of treatment or of persistent pain. The concept of litigation neurosis and the present state of medical evidence and attitudes toward a “functional overlay” are discussed in the light of this concept of depressive reaction after injury. This brings up a difference in evidence and attitude toward psychiatric disability in workers’ compensation law, since, as the Act at present differentiates between psychiatric conditions arising from the accident and those which result from pain and suffering occurring after a known physical disability, the present concept brings depression in an anxious individual into more direct relationship to the initial injury. The problems of anxiety in relation to litigation, and the effect of this on the efficiency of treatment of depression, anxiety and post‐traumatic neurosis, are mentioned, and further work on this subject with particular reference to the immigrant population will be presented in a further paper. A follow‐up study is needed to determine the mechanism of “cure” after settlement of insurance claims.